Book Review: Reign the Earth

Credit where credit is due. I may have, in the end, been bored by this book but it still gets credit for touching on elements not often portrayed in YA.

The Summary

Shalia agrees to a political, arranged marriage with King Calix in hopes of bringing some peace in the midst of an unending war. The arrangement soon becomes very dangerous indeed when Shalia discovers she has earth Elementae powers, something she has to hide from her Elementae-hating husband.

The Analysis

Reign the Earth is not a fun book to read. It’s somber and dark in a very serious way. Amongst other things, the book focuses on abuse. And the abuser is not once looked at in a kind, forgiving way. The behavior is inexcusable. There’s no depth to it other than to say the behavior is wrong. It’s hard to read, but it’s also something I feel gets ignored or glossed over a lot in YA, so its presence is appreciated.

Other positives for the book include surprisingly solid worldbuilding, a strong female lead and a diverse cast. Unfortunately I still found myself bored throughout the book. It’s missing that spark to make me love it.

Most of the friendships, relationships and romances are lackluster. There’s also several twists that, truly, come from so far out of nowhere I could hardly believe the book when it tried to share the twisty information.

It’s hard to give any sort of feeling for this book other than indifference. I don’t feel that my time was wasted reading it, but I am also not jumping to recommend this to anyone either. Nor do I think I’ll read a sequel. It’s an average book with a few more than average details. It may be a great book for someone, but it certainly wasn’t for me.